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MORAL EDUCATION 
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LECTURE 



I)ELIVER£D AT NEW BEDFORD, AUGUST 16, 1842, 



BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION, 



GEORGE B. EMSJ^RSON. 



PUBLISHED BY A VOTE OF THE INSTITUTE. 



BOSTON: 
WILLIAM D. TICKNOR. 

Corner of School and. Washington Streets. 

1842. 






LECTURE 



MORAL EDUCATION 



BY GEORGE B. EMERSON. 



The subject assigned to me by the Committee of 
Arrangements is Moral Education. It seems to be gen- 
erally admitted, that no part of education is so important, 
and none so much neglected, as this. Such is the lan- 
guage of the school returns In this State ; such is the 
testimony of those who have visited the Common Schools 
in the other States, and of all who are acquainted with 
the course and manner of instruction, wherever the Eng- 
lish language is spoken. This is at once an encouraging 
and a terrible admission. It is encouraging, because the 
first step towards the correction of an evil, is to admit 
its existence and its enormity. But it is terrible to know 
that, with all our boasted advancement, we still fail of this 
great and all-important end. To neglect the moral ele- 
1 



2 MR. 

ment, while we cultivate the lower propensities and the 
intellect, is to mistake tlie plan of the Creator, who, in 
making man, has endowed him with all the faculties of a 
brute, and all the capacities of a demon, but has made 
him a little lower than the angels, by lighting within him 
that flame which burns with an ethereal light, significant 
of its heavenly origin ; it is to let this celestial flame go 
out, while we minister fuel to the consuming fires of the 
brutal and demoniacal parts of our nature. 

To come forw^ard to point out the fearful mistake we 
have made, and to presume to show how it may be cor- 
rected, should need, I am aware, an apology. While 
there is a class of men, whose high ojffice it is to educate 
our moral and spiritual powers, to reinstate conscience 
on its throne, and show us how all else should be brought 
into subjection to it, it would have been much more fit that 
one of this class should now occupy this place, and teach 
us this lesson ; and I cannot but feel how much more 
reverently, on such a subject, you would have listened to 
his voice. But they have done their part of the w^ork. 
The great truths have been clearly declared. The high 
principles have been eloquently laid down. An humbler 
but not less essential part is ours ; not to reason out new 
truths, not to bring new illustrations, but to draw con- 
clusions which may be applicable to the daily duties of 
our life, and faithfully, wisely, and courageously, to apply 
them. 

In treating this subject, we shall first endeavor to 
ascertain what is to be done. What is the moral educa- 
tion at which we should aim ? In the second place. What 
have we to act upon ? And lastly, how shall we effect 
our purpose. 



WHAT IS MORAL EDUCATION ? 3 

What, then, is moral education ? It is to awaken 
conscience, to give it activity, and to establish the pre- 
eminence which belongs to it among the feelings, propen- 
sities, and powers, of the human mind and character. 

It comprehends moral instruction and moral training, 
the teaching what the duties are, and the formation of 
moral habits. It is the education of the conscience 
which has been chiefly neglected ; yet this, more than 
any other part of our nature, should receive, from the 
beginning, constant and careful attcotion. 

An examination of what we are to act upon, will show 
the truth of this position, and indicate an answer to the 
third question, How is it to be effected ? 

Whatever may be our object in teaching, whether it 
be merely to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, or, 
in connection with them, to communicate information 
which shall be useful to our pupils in future life ; or the 
higher one of disciplining the powers of the mind, so as 
to give tiiem their greatest energy and activity ; or this 
highest object, of adding to all these an education of the 
moral nature, which shall make our pupil come forth pre- 
pared for action, full of respect for right, and of reverence 
for the Author of right, and fitted "to perform, justly, 
skilfully, and magnanimously, all offices, both private and 
public ;" — whatever view w^e take of our duty, we must 
act upon the mind, and it would seem to be essential that 
we should know^ something of the mind on which we 
would act ; of the human character, of all its elenients, 
as they exist in the constitution of a child. 

Here Is the most complex and curious piece of ma- 
chinery ever made, — the work of a hand divine ; — 

'' How noble in reason I how infinite in faculties ! in 



4 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

form and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, 
how like an angel ! in apprehension, how hke a god !" — 
Can the knowledge of this come to us intuitively ? I ex- 
hort you to make it a study. What study can be more 
w^orthy or more suitable ? Remember, it is not many 
things, but one, — one wonderful machine of many parts, — 
all so related as to be dependent on each other ; all essen- 
tial ; each unintelligible without some knowledge of the 
rest. All must therefore be known, — body, mind, soul, 
— if you would act, with any hope of success, on the 
highest. 

If you were about to engage, in a capacity higher than 
that of a day laborer, in any other pursuit than that of 
teaching, would you not set yourself at once to under- 
stand what was the object which you should endeavor to 
have in view, and what the machinery by which you 
could attain it ? If you were going to manufacture wool- 
len goods, you would wish to understand the nature of 
the raw material, the processes and machinery by which 
it is to be acted on, and to judge of the quahty of the 
article you wished to produce. Will you do less, when 
the mechanism with which you are to operate is the work 
of an Infinite Architect } and the web to be woven is 
the rich and varied fabric of human character ? 

If you were about to engage in agriculture, you would 
take care to inform yourself as to the nature of the soil, 
its adaptation to the various kinds of grain and vegetables, 
and the season of the year at which, in this climate, it is 
most proper to prepare the ground, to plough, to sow 
the seed, and to reap and gather into the barn. Will 
you take less care, when the soil is the human soul, the 



THE STUDY OF MIND. 5 

seed is the word of life, the harvest, the end of the world, 
and the reapers, angels ? 

If you were going to navigate the ocean, you would 
wish to know how to judge of the ship, to sail and steer ; 
you would inquire about the currents that would set you 
from your course, and the winds that should bear you 
onward ; you would learn to trace the moon's course 
among the stars, and to look aloft to the sun in his path, 
that you might not drift at random on the broad sea, but 
speed towards your desired haven, as if you could see it 
rising before you above the blue waves. So much you 
would do that you might convey in safety a few tons of 
merchandise ; and ail men would hold you unwise if you 
did less. Shall they not tax you with worse than folly if 
you make less preparation when your ship is the human 
soul, freighted with a parent's and a nation's hopes, — with 
the hopes of immortality, — if you fail to study the cur- 
rents of passion, to provide against the rocks of tempta- 
tion, and to look aloft for the guiding light which shines 
only from Heaven ? 

But, to speak without simile, the study of mental phi- 
losophy is of the greatest importance to a teacher, in every 
point of view. If we would exercise the several powers, 
we must know what they are, and by what disciphne they 
are to be trained. If we would cultivate them harmoni- 
ously, in their natural order and proportion, we must 
know which of them first come into action, which are de- 
veloped at a later age, and what are the province and 
functions of each. Without this knowledge, we can 
hardly fail of losing the most propitious times for begin- 
ning their cultivation ; we shall make the common mis- 
take of attempting certain studies too soon, or we shall 
1* 



6 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

make use of paeans little suited to the ends we have In 
view. 

Important as this study is, it is no more difficult than 
any other, if, in regard to it, we take the same course 
which we find the true one in other investigations, — if, 
laying aside conjectures, dreams, and speculations, we 
adopt the safe and philosophical rule, to observe care- 
fully and extensively the facts, and draw from them only 
their legitimate conclusions. 

There are three sources from which we are to draw 
light ; first, the facts of our own consciousness, the most 
difficult of all to consult ; second, the facts we observe 
in the mental growth of others, especially of children ; 
and last, the great storehouse of recorded facts contained 
in the works of those who, directly or indirectly, have 
written upon this subject. 

I have no thought of going into this wide field of in- 
quiry. I am only desirous of contributing the mite of 
my own experience to the common treasure of truth in 
regfird to the question before us. I freely confess that, 
however admirable are the writings of what are called the 
metaphysicians, — and some of them are certainly among 
the richest, loftiest, most eloquent, and delightful writers, 
in the Greek, French, and English languages, — I say noth- 
ing of the unknown vast of German metaphysics, — how- 
ever much of grand conception, of elevating thought, of 
food for the mind in its highest mood, I may have found, 
or of speculation which enlarged the boundaries of mental 
dominion, — I have derived from them little of practical 
value, to guide me in the daily routine of my duties. 
Their work has been done. Its effects are in the world ; 
and it would be vain and idle to deny the good wrought 



THE STUDY OF MIND. 7 

for humanity by the divine Plato, — the ideal of subliine 
imagination, — the severe Aristotle, — the close observer, 
reducing the processes of human thought to the neces- 
sary laws of truth, — the all-embracing Cousin, the pol- 
ished Stewart, the philosophic Reid, the eloquent Brown, 
and the crowd of others, who occupy the upper air. 
None, doubtless, have done more than they to advance 
this very work in which we are engaged ; but in this empy- 
rean, I have seen no one leading star, upon which I could 
fix my eyes and go safely over the dark and stormy weaves. 

To confine ourselves to the one subject before us, the 
first, so far as I know, who, reasoning from the facts of 
human uature, and guided by the gospel, has given its 
true place to the conscience among the elements of hu- 
man character, is Bishop Butler. His three discourses 
upon Human Nature place in a clear and prominent light 
this whole subject of the subordination of the other parts 
of our constitution, and the preeminence and authority 
of the conscience, — by which he evidently means the 
natural sentiment of conscientiousness, enlightened by 
an examination of our manifold relations, and with 
its empire enlarged and its action quickened by re- 
flection. All his discourses are of great practical value 
to the teacher who would teach a code of morals founded 
at once upon reason and the light of nature, and upon 
revelation. It is true, they demand serious study, but 
they richly deserve the profoundest thought that can be 
given to them. 

I would next refer you to the author of a discourse 
upon the " Constitution of Man." I insist not upon the 
physiological views on which this work professes to have 
been built. I long held them in derision, and am still 



8 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

too ignorant in regard to them to have an opinion of any 
value. I speak now only of the classification of the pro- 
pensities, sentiments, and faculties, which it contains, and 
the observations which are made upon them. By these a 
light is thrown upon the path of the educator which he 
looked for in vain from any other source. 

I would also refer you to the works of the writers upon 
physiology, particularly to the work of Dr. Combe. So 
intimately are all the parts of the human constitution con- 
nected, and so vitally do the mental and moral depend 
upon the physical powers, that we can understand either 
only by studying them in connection with the others. 
For this reason, the knowledge of the laws of the struc- 
ture, growth, development, and health of the body, is 
essential to a comprehension of the corresponding partic- 
ulars in the phenomena of mind. And in no other way 
do we learn the all-important law, that every faculty of 
body and mind, every sentiment and every affection, is to 
be improved by exercise. 

I have pointed out the three sources from which we 
are to obtain information in regard to that point in the 
philosophy of mind which is important to us in our pres- 
ent inquiry, — reflection upon what has occurred and is 
occurring within ourselves, observation upon the facts ex- 
hibited by others, and the study of books. From each 
of these we infer the fact that the conscience begins to 
act with the very dawn of our faculties, and with it begin 
the two other essential elements of the moral nature, — 
love and veneration. Few of us can look back in mem- 
ory to the time before which we had no feelings of right 
and wrong, or of affection for our friends, or of reverence 
for the Author of our being. And though each of these 



THE EARLIEST EDUCATION. 9 

sentiments manifests itself with different degrees of force 
in different individuals, yet how constantly do we observe, 
in children of the tenderest age, an artlessness of truth, a 
warmth of affection, and a confiding humility and sin- 
cerity of reverence, which bring to our hearts the words 
of the Saviour, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
We have no epithets for purity, innocence, truthfulness, 
loveliness, trust, which mean so much as the single word 
childlike ; and Jesus, when he would answer the ques- 
tion, ''Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven," 
" called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst 
of them." Thus we have light from heaven thrown 
upon the conclusion which w^e had drawn from our ear- 
liest faint recollections of infancy, from the angelic aspect 
and first acts of childhood, and from the recorded ob- 
servations of other men. At this age, then, moral edu- 
cation should begin, and the first teacher must be the 
mother. 

This is not the occasion to dwell on maternal influ- 
ence. But let it be remembered that it often rests upon 
the mother to give a shape to the future character. Rev- 
erence, truth, love, must exist in her breast, before she 
can impart them to her child. And perfect physical 
health, so important to the nurse of her own offspring, is 
but an emblem of the healthfulness of soul which she 
should possess. Unless the moral education be early 
and rightly begun, it will be in danger of beginning wrong 
at a later period. If, therefore, the mother would save 
her child from the infinite evils of a perverted education, 
she must begin herself to educate him aright ; she must 
begin to teach him that heaven-inspired lesson, to do 
justly^ to love mercy ^ and to loalk humbly loith God, — - 



10 MR. EMERSON^S LECTURE. 

that wonderful epitome of duty to which human wisdom 
has been unable to add. Let the mother see to it that 
the first words which the child learns shall be words 
of truth, and that he be not, by act or look, by fear or by 
bribery, taught the arts of deception. 

Justice is of such moment that it must never be viola- 
ted, in the value of a pin. " Go back," said a Christian 
mother to her boy, " carry the pin back and restore it ; it is 
not thine." This simple lesson made an impression, which 
years and the world's wisdom never erased ; for nothing 
is little in the e'ducation of a child. And with men, as 
well as children, a violation of justice, no matter in what 
amount, is a great violation. Great injury is done to the 
conscience by giving softening names to bad things. A 
falsehood should be called a Zie, and not a Jib, and any 
departure from truth should be looked upon as reprehen- 
sible. He had studied the boundaries of truth, and the 
path which leads to falsehood carefully, who said that a 
child ought not to be allowed to state that as having hap- 
pened in one window, which had actually taken place in 
another. Exact truth is the only rule for children. 

In regard to the law of affection, it can hardly be ne- 
cessary to say any thing. A mother's heart is usually 
right and true on that point, however false and wrong it 
may be on every other. The union of the law of love with 
that of justice, in the Christian rule. Judge not, is of too 
great importance to be omitted. The child should, from 
the beginning, be taught to obey this command. He 
should be shown that he cannot look into the thoughts of 
others, or see w^ith their eyes, and that, therefore, what 
in himself would be a lie, may in his brother be a mis- 



MORAL INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOL. 11 

take. Thus, from his earliest years, may he be taught 
not to look at the mote in his brother's eye. 

But our business is particularly with the school, and 
we come now to the consideration of the third question. 
By what means moral education is to be conducted 
there. It is necessary, however, to premise one or two 
considerations. The first is, that of the three classes 
into which the elements of the human mind are divided, 
the propensities, which are common to us with the lower 
animals, the intellectual faculties, and the moral senti- 
ments, — education has to do only with the two latter. 
The teacher should be acquainted with the existence, 
nature, and laws of the animal propensities, but it is only 
as the good man should be acquainted with the second 
table of God's revealed law, that he may know how they 
may be repressed. They are ready enough, of their 
own nature, to come into action, and he must be on his 
guard, lest any thing should be done or suffered which 
will have a tendency to excite them to activity. 

The second observation which I would premise is, 
that the teacher must have constant reference to the well- 
known law of physiology, that every part of our constitu- 
tion, whether of the bodily frame, as our muscles and 
senses, or mental power, or moral faculty, is to be ex- 
cited, improved, and brought to its highest perfection, by 
exercise, upon its appropriate object, begun at the right 
time, regularly continued, and proportioned in duration 
and force to the strength and state of the faculty. These 
conditions of exercise vary with every several faculty, and 
must be separately studied and ascertained for each. 

We have seen that the essential point in moral educa- 
tion is to awaken the conscience, to give it activity, and 



12 MR. 

to establish it in the preeminence which, by the ordinance 
of the Creator, belongs to it ; that it comprehends moral 
instruction, — the teaching what the duties are, — and moral 
training, or the formation of moral habits ; and we have 
seen what knowledge of the human constitution Is neces- 
sary to qualify us to understand and to perform this part 
of our duty. 

What, then, are we to do to awaken the conscience^ 
on the supposition that it has not already been done be- 
fore the child is sent to school ? I say awaken^ because 
I believe that instruction can do nothing to create what 
does not already exist. The conscience is there, at the 
bottom of the heart ; but it may be that it sleeps. From 
utter neglect it may have become torpid. The fire 
kindled by the hand of God still burns ; it is not extin- 
guished, though it may give no light ; it may be dim from 
a parent's neglect ; it may be smouldering under the 
ashes of early sin. What shall we do to rekindle it and 
raise it to a flame ? What have the teachers of righteous- 
ness in all ages done ? What the inspired law^giver and 
prophets of the Jews ? What did the Saviour do ? He 
addressed himself directly to the conscience. ''Swear 
not at all." '-Resist not evil." "Give to him that 
askeih thee." " Be ye perfect." " Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God." 

So must we address ourselves directly to the con- 
science. But to be felt, the address must come from the 
conscience. Formal words have no effect. Dull disserta- 
tions, or sermons upon duty, serve only to create apathy. 
Words that burn, must come from a heart kindled as by 
a live coal from off the altar. A few such words, utter- 
ed from a deep and sincere conviction of duty, go to the 



HOW TO AWAKEN THE CONSCIENCE. 13 

conscience, and will hardly fail to arouse it. If the chil- 
dren have been made familiar with the vital moral teach- 
ings of the New Testament, it will be sufficient to show,, 
of any particular duty, that it flows naturally from that 
fountain ; or that a particular vice is forbidden, directly 
or indirectly, there. If the child be not familiar with 
these truths, the teacher must hasten to make him so. 
And for this purpose the lessons of the Great Teacher 
must be daily read, and their application to the whole 
circle of human duties pointed out. Moral teaching in 
school must be essentially like moral instruction in the 
pulpit. Both must come from the same source. The 
long and profound discourses of the pulpit are but too 
seldom fitted to the comprehension or condition of a 
child ; and there are but too many children to whom the 
voice of religious instruction will never come but in the 
school-house. But whoever believes that life and im- 
mortality are brought to light in the gospel, must look 
thither for aid in awakening the dormant energies of the 
immortal soul. 

In thus speaking of the gospel as the great source 
of moral and religious light, I would not confine others 
to this alone. If any one finds that he can gain 
light from other sources, let him obtain it thence. 
I only say that, for myself, I must first go to Jesus 
Christ. In his Sermon on the Mount, and in his other 
discourses, I find instruction which the voice within me 
assents to and confirms, for which I look in vain to all 
other beings that have lived. In his parable of the tal- 
ents, I find a command which comes with more authority, 
the more I dwell upon it, to cultivate to the utmost 
every faculty with which I have been endowed ; and this 
2 



14 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

is the lesson which it may teach others. We must ob- 
tain assistance wherever we can find it. Beginning here, 
we must look through creation and time, interrogate his- 
tory, and the course of things, and listen to every voice 
which promises to give us wisdom. For our office is no 
less than to teach all the laws of nature and of Provi- 
dence ; those which govern the body and the intellect ; 
those which relate to our moral and religious nature. 
We must, therefore, understand and point out our rela- 
tion to God, the Creator of the body as well as the soul, 
the Author of all laws, — the material and organic, as w^ell 
as the mental and moral. And it is only by insisting 
upon the duty of obedience to all of God's law^s, that we 
can render the empire of conscience coextensive with 
our relations to all of his creatures. 

We have next to inquire what tends directly to en- 
lighten and cultivate this moral sense. 

The same means by which we have sought to awaken 
it, — direct addresses to it. In regard to every act, we are 
to ask, or lead the child to ask, '' Is it right ?" not, '' Is 
it expedient ?" " Will it be well thought of? Will it 
advance me in other men's estimation ?" but, " Is it 
right V^ "Is it consistent with God's laws ?" '' Is it 
kind ?" 

And here I would make a suggestion which is of im- 
portance. It should be our object not to impose the 
laws of our own conscience upon our pupils, but to ex- 
cite theirs to action. The difference Is Infinite. In one 
case, we make blind followers ; in the other, independent 
agents. In the one case, we make respect for our opin- 
ions, thoughts, or reason, their guide ; in the other, tlieir 
own perceptions of right and wrong. In the one case, we 



HOW TO CULTIVATE THE CONSCIENCE. 15 

give them a thread, by holding which they may be able 
to follow us as long as we are with them ; in the other, 
we place within them a guide, ever watchful, and con- 
stantly more intelligent, to accom.pany them through life. 

The conscience is to be enlightened by giving instruc- 
tion in regard to the various duties. The child must be 
first made to understand his relation to the Creator, and a 
deep sense of His universal presence must be impressed 
upon hiin. His attributes must be dwelt upon; his in- 
finite goodness, his all-comprehending wisdom, his bound- 
less power, his holiness, his justice, and the thence re- 
sulting duties of habitual reverence and worship. The 
profanity of children is more frequently thoughtlessness 
than deliberate impiety, and a desire to offend God, 
And frequent addresses upon his character and presence, 
will be more effectual than any thing else to correct it. 

Intelligible and striking illustrations of the goodness of 
God may be drawn from the external creation, the beauty 
of the fields, the waters, the sky^ and the objects which 
live and move therein, the grateful variations of the sea- 
sons, the balmy air, the pleasant light, the happiness of 
existence. From the same source may be drawn illus- 
trations of his wisdom, and especially from the wonderful 
structure of our own body. His power is shown in the 
vastness of the creation, in the sun and stars, and the 
motions and perfect regularity of all his great works. 
The sublime account of the creation, in Genesis^ and 
many glorious passages in the Psalms and in the Prophets, 
may be read to children in school to impress these great 
truths upon them. 

Some of you may ask why I insist upon these com- 
mon-places of the pulpit. I answer, because I believe, 



16 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

if such considerations were properly, naturally, and with 
the unaffected feelings which belong to them, presented 
to children, they might be made to grow up with an 
habitual sense of God's presence in his works, — so that 
all things seen should continually remind them of Him. 

Every object in creation is different, and the minister 
of different feelings and thoughts, according to the view 
we have been accustomed to take of it. A tree, accord- 
ing as we look upon it, is either a mere tall, growing 
thing, to be cut into fuel, or sawn into plank, or it is one 
of the noblest and most beautiful of God's works, rising 
toward heaven, as should our prayers, bringing the influ- 
ence of the clouds upon the earth, sheltering cattle be- 
neath its shade, and birds in its branches, ministering, by 
its shape, its colors, and its motion, to man's sense of 
beauty, and exhibiting, in its admirable structure, such 
laws of arrangement, growth, strength, durability, as tax 
man's utmost wit to understand and admire. Should 
not children, if possible, be so instructed, as to see what- 
ever of good and beauty there is to be seen, in every part 
of the creation, so that they may ever walk as in God's 
temple ? Should they not be so educated that their daily 
and constant associations with the objects which present 
themselves to their senses, may be on the side of benev- 
olence and happiness, of wisdom and truth ? The ex- 
alted strains of Milton, Thomson, Cowper, Young, Col- 
eridge, Bryant, and other poets, may be employed for 
the same purpose. Portions of them, after a full and 
feeling explanation from the teacher, may be committed 
to memory, — so that, while the imagination is stored 
with images of beauty, the memory may furnish fit 
expression for the feelings they suggest. To a person 



HOW TO CULTIVATE THE CONSCIENCE. 17 

SO educated, the stillness of night, with the starry canopy 
above, would not fill the mind with fears of goblins and 
ghosts, but would raise it to wonder and adoration, and 
the warm emotions of the heart would burst spontaneously 
with a rapt, poetic glow, into v/ords, — 

** There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st, 
But in his motion like an angel sings ;" — 

or clothe itself in the sublime expressions of v/orship, — 

** These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, 
Almighty." 

And the mountain, In Its grandeur, instead of being an 
image of torrents, dashing down 

<* Precipitous, black, jagged rocks," 

would, 

** Like some sweet beguiling melody, 
So sweet, we know not we are listening to it, 
bknd with the thought. 
Till the dilating soul, enrapt, transfused, 
Into the mighty vision passing, — there 
As in her natural form, swell vast to Heaven." 

Next in importance are our social duties, — those 
which arise from our relation to our fellow creatures, and 
which are comprehended in the second great command- 
ment of the New Testament. 

These should be daily and regularly explained and en- 
forced. The general neglect of this most important part 
of education seems to proceed partly from a belief that it 
is sufficiently provided for by the Instruciion of parents, 
and of the ministers of religion. If Instruction In social 
duties were sufficiently given elsewhere. It would Indeed 
be superfluous to Insist upon it in school. But this is far 
2* 



18 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

from the case. A large portion of the parents whose 
children fill the public schools, are either disinclined, or 
are unqualified, by their want of education, or by the en- 
grossing nature of their occupations, to give suitable in- 
struction in social duties ; or, what produces the same 
effect, they conceive themselves unqualified. At home, 
then, the Instruction is often not obtained. Neither is it, 
in very many cases, at church. Many children are of 
necessity unfrequent attendants at church ; some go not 
at all, — and to many more, the instructions of the pulpit 
are not suited. These are usually addressed to grown 
men ; and if, occasionally, direct addresses are made to 
children, — such as are present, — they are, naturally and 
properly, much more occupied with religious than w^ith 
social duties. A regular course of instruction from the 
pulpit, upon social duties, adapted to the capacity of chil- 
dren, is, I believe^ very rare. This may be right, and 
I do not mean to say that it is not. But it certainly is 
not right, that, in a country like ours, regular, systematic 
instruction in the social relations and duties should no 
where be given. The schools are eminently a social in- 
stitution. They are provided by law, maintained at the 
public expense, and intended for the instruction of the 
whole community in those things which are essential to 
the public good. They are therefore, especially, on 
every account, the place in which instruction in social 
duties should be given. 

The discovery has been made, and in some places 
men have begun to act upon it, that it is better to prevent 
the commission of crime, than to punish it when com- 
mitted ; that a merciful code of school laws may be made 
to take the place of a sanguinary code of criminal laws ; 



SOCIAL DUTIES. 19 

that good schools are better than bad jails ; that a kind 
schoohnaster is a more useful member of society than a 
savage executioner ; that capital instruction is better than 
capital punishment ; that it is better and easier to teach a 
boy to love a heavenly Judge, and keep his command- 
ments, than to teach a man to fear an earthly judge, after 
he has broken the commandments ; that it is pleasanter 
to spend a long life in the service of God and mankind, and 
the enjoyment of health and prosperity, than to divide a 
short life between the poor-house and the prison, and end 
it on a gallows ; that it is better to prepare men to fill 
their own pockets honestly, than to tempt them to empty 
their neighbors' pockets dishonestly. 

If these are truths, the teacher has a most important 
public duty to perform. If it be true that, to form the 
child, by daily instruction and daily training, to a regard 
for the laws of justice, integrity, truth, and reverence, so 
that he shall grow up mindful of the rights of others, a 
good neighbor, a good citizen, and an honest man, is 
better and more reasonable, than to leave him in these 
respects unformed or misled, and to endeavor afterwards 
to correct his mistakes and enlighten his moral sense by 
the weekly instructions of the pulpit, and the influence of 
the laws of the land ; — the teacher must give regular and 
systematic instruction in social duties. If these are 
truths, the teacher has a great work to perform. He 
has to lay deep the foundations of public justice. He 
has to give that profound and quick sense of the sacred- 
ness of right, and the everlasting obligation of truth, with- 
out which, law will have no sanctity, private contracts no 
binding force, the pulpit no reverence, justice no author- 
ity. If these are truths, and if it is a greater thing to 



20 MR. 

form than to reform, it becomes all parents to look to it, 
what manner of men they have for their children's teach- 
ers. 

The question recurs. How shall this moral instruction 
in social duties be given ? 

Cases are continually occurring, in every school, of the 
violation of these duties in the intercourse of the children 
with each other. These should never be allowed to 
pass without the lesson which they suggest. A boy may 
be easily made to understand, that if he injures the 
property of another, or defaces the school-house, he as 
really violates the law of property, as if he took money, 
since he subjects somebody to an expense, which is 
pecuniary, and also gives trouble ; and if this were fully 
explained, such offences would cease to be so common. 
The same may be said of the petty thefts of books, pen- 
cils and pens. They are committed because the offender 
is not made to understand that they are of the same com- 
plexion as steahng the money, by which these articles 
were purchased. These are not small matters. A child 
allowed in the commission of such sins, will be in danger 
of going on, by imperceptible degrees, to those more 
considerable offences against property, against which is 
denounced the rigor of the law. It is found that great 
numbers of those boys, who are sent, by a decree of the 
courts, to the House of Reformation in Boston, for 
offences which subjected them to imprisonment, took 
their first lesson on the wharves, where they supposed 
they were not seriously violating property, by taking a 
little molasses from a cask, or a little coffee or sugar 
from a bag or box. They reasoned correctly, doubtless, 
when they said, that if there were no harm in taking a 



INSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL DUTIES. 21 

little molasses on a stick, there could be none in taking a 
little more in a tin measure, and carrying it home to their 
poor mothers. And, if there were no harm in taking it 
from a wharf, there could be none in taking it from a 
grocer's shop. But here the law steps in, and declares 
that to be now criminal which before had been innocent, 
— such a change having been produced in the nature of 
right and wrong, by a hogshead of molasses' crossing a 
wooden threshold ; and the boy who, many a time, had 
taken a gill from the bung with impunity, is condemned, 
for taking four gills at once, to three months' imprison- 
ment, — a sentence which is commuted, by the lenity of 
the court, to a five years' residence at South Boston. 
The boys reasoned correctly ; their only mistake was in 
supposing that they could take any amount, however 
small, of another person's property, without guilt ; and all 
this could have been made as clear to them at school, as 
it is to you or me. Not that I would recommend this 
process of tracing to consequences. The delicate con- 
science of a child is quick enough to perceive, if it be 
once aroused, that the real sin is in violating property at 
all, and that the amount makes no difference in the real 
nature of the crime. And it is not conscience, but a 
base, earthly prudence which you address, when you 
teach a child to beware, not of sin, but of the jail or the 
gallows. Even this low motive it may be necessary 
sometimes to brin^ into operation ; but let it be under- 
stood that this is not moral instruction, but prudential, — 
no better than that of the savage Spartan, Beware how 
you steal. 

The lessons of school present frequent occasions for 
moral instruction. History abounds in them. History 



22 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

has been described as philosophy teaching by example. 
It might be called moral philosophy so teaching ; for 
there is no more suitable vehicle of moral instruction. 
And, unless taught under the guidance of a moral prin- 
ciple, the study of most periods of history is of very 
doubtful value. Take the Roman history, for example, 
which enters so largely, in one shape or another, into the 
course of study of those who receive what is called a 
liberal education. Julius Csesar, in his account of his 
wars in Gaul,* coolly tells us, on one occasion, that he 
determined to cross the Rhine, that is, to invade Ger- 
many, for several reasons ; the best of which was, to 
strike terror into the Germans, by showing them that the 
Romans could and would invade them if they chose, — and 
a second, to punish a nation who had had the temerity to 
tell him, what was certainly true, that he had no rights on 
their side of the river, and they should there do as they 
pleased. He accordingly builds a bridge, and goes over 
into Germany ; and though he cannot find the free nation 
whom he had seen fit to consider his enemy, he burns all 
the villages and houses he can find, destroys the harvests, 
and having, he says, gone far enough for his glory and 
advantage, he returns and breaks down the bridge. Now, 
it is common to spend time and take pains to explain the 
construction of this famous bridge. But what must be 
the moral effect of this history, if not a word is said of 
the violation of right by invading an independent nation, 
or of the atrocity of this wanton destruction of villages 
and harvests ? Again ; a Roman, who is often held up as 
a model of the old Roman virtue, was wont to conclude 

* De Bello GalHco, iv, 16, et seq. 



TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE STUDIES. 23 

all his speeches with, ''This I say, and that Carthage 
should be destroyed !" What must be the effect upon 
the moral sense of the learner, to read, without any re- 
mark from his teacher upon their violation of humanity, 
these truculent words, uttered by a man who is pointed 
out to his admiration, in regard to a city, to destroy 
which the Romans had no more right than we have to in- 
vade China ? 

The morality of the Roman poetry and mythology is 
still less questionable. How often has the friendship of 
Nisus and Euryalus been extolled ! The only story we 
have of them is of their stealing, in the darkness of night, 
into the enemy's camp, and, after having glutted their ap- 
petite for blood, by the murder, in sleep, of num- 
bers of their enemies, of being discovered and put 
to death, in consequence of carrying off the spoils. 
What must be the effect of passing such a scene without 
a comment, speaking only of the fidelity of their friend- 
ship, and saying nothing of the savageness of this mid- 
night murder ! 

Similar observations might be made on the character 
of most of those who figure in heathen history and my- 
thology, both gods and mortals. And is the history of 
Christian nations much better ? Or the writers of modern 
history, the Humes, and Gibbons, and Voltaires, by 
whom we are taught the great lessons of history, — are 
they safer moral guides ? Would you, therefore, exclude 
ancient and modern history, and the literature of antiquity, 
from the circle of liberal studies ? By no means. The 
same rule would exclude a greater part of our own his- 
tory. The story of our intercourse with the Indian 
tribes about us, a story of systematic encroachment, 



24 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

wrong, and injustice, has been and is told by writers 
calling themselves Christian, in a spirit which will hardly 
gain in a comparison with the moral tone of Caesar's Com- 
mentaries, and which often falls short of the honest faith- 
fulness of Tacitus. These books must be read, but it is 
the business of the teacher to stand by, and, pointing to 
the gospel, to show constantly wherein the character of 
the event or actor falls below that standard. 

This teaching of moral truth by details is a duty of 
which any faithful Christian teacher is capable. 

But moral instruction is too important to be left to the 
occasions that may occur in the business of the school, 
or to those that may be presented by the studies that are 
pursued. The moral sentiments are the highest of our 
faculties, and their education should form an integral part 
of the teacher's plan. Systematic moral instruction can 
be given only by assigning, in the arrangements for each 
day, an hour at which attention shall be exclusively given 
to it. For this purpose, the teacher must provide him- 
self with some good treatise on moral philosophy, like 
Wayland's or Parkhurst's, and, selecting a portion, pre- 
pare himself for each lesson by careful study and thought 
upon some one particular point. Instruction from such a 
human source should have authority given it by quotations 
from the Scriptures ; and a diligent searcher of the 
Scriptures will not find it difficult to discover passages 
bearing upon every point of human duty. The course I 
would recommend is one which I have myself pursued 
for some years, and which T find adapted to the end in 
view. It is to begin each day by reading a portion selec- 
ted from the New or Old Testament, accompanying it 
with observations upon the particular duty which I wish 



PERSONAL DUTIES. 25 

to enforce. These observations need not, and should 
not, occupy more than five or ten minutes. In this way 
the great cardinal duties may be more or less fully ex- 
plained in the morning exercises of ten or twelve weeks.- 
A course of instruction intended to cover a larger period 
may be more in detail, and extend to a greater number 
of particulars. The great danger to be guarded against 
in these lessons is formality. They lose their value as 
soon as they cease to be earnest. 

The third class of duties in which a child should be- 
instructed, includes personal duties, — his duties to him- 
self. These duties are of great importance, as it is upon 
a knowledge of and obedience to them, that the happi- 
ness of his existence will depend. These duties are- 
comprehended in self-knowledge, self-control, and self- 
culture. In regard to these, more instruction is needed, 
and less is usually given, than in regard to either of the^ 
other two classes. To urge us to discover and perform' 
our duties in this respect, the deep-seated desire of hap- 
piness, the strongest and most universal of our desires, 
seems to have been implanted. Yet so deplorably have 
these duties been overlooked, so lamentably have they 
been disregarded, that we are almost ready to conclude- 
that this strong desire has been implanted, as the voice 
of antiquity. Know thyself^ has been uttered, and the 
command of Christ been given, — all equally in vain. 

Self-knowledge implies a knowledge of the body and 
its powers, of the nature of the animal desires, appetites, 
and passions, of the intellectual faculties, and the moral 
sentiments ; of the laws of the health of all these parts of 
the system, and of the modes by which each is to be 
controlled or cultivated. But why, it may be asked, 
3 



26 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

make a knowledge of the body and of the laws of phy- 
sical health a part of self-knowledge } Who is the Crea- 
tor of the body ? Who established these laws of health } 
One would think, from the slight manner in which we 
often find a knowledge of the body and its laws regarded, 
that it was a common opinion that " some of nature's 
journeymen had made men, and not made them well," — 
so far as the body is concerned. But if the body be 
really God's workmanship, its laws must be God's laws, 
and worthy of man's, or at least of children's, study. 

The body was made by God as the dwelling-place of 
the soul, and they are so connected that the health of the 
one depends upon the health of the other. A person 
fully convinced of this will feel that he has no more right 
to violate the laws of the health of the body, than he has 
to violate the moral laws, or those relating to the health 
of the soul. If these laws were universally taught, and 
the conscience made to recognize them, we should soon 
cease to see, — a sight by which we are now so often 
shocked, — good and religious men sacrificing the body, 
and with it their usefulness to their fellow-men, by delib- 
erate violations of the laws of that Great Being, to whose 
service they profess to have devoted themselves, body 
and soul. 

The next part of personal duty is self-control. The 
child should be early taught that there are parts of his 
nature which he has in common with the brutes ; that 
these, — the animal propensities, — good within certain 
limits, tend always to excess ; a portion of them tempting 
him to beastly sensuality, another portion to falsehood and 
to savage rage and cruelty ; that a great lesson he is to 
learn is to keep these passions and appetites under the 



SELF-CULTURE. 27 

control of the higher parts of his nature, his enlightened 
reason and conscience ; and that the Saviour has given 
instruction of infinite value, when he taught that out of 
the heart proceed evil thoughts, and when he pronounced 
a blessing on the pure in heart; thus establishing the rule 
of the wise man of old, '' Keep thy heart with all dili- 
gence." The instruction he obtains from examining his 
own structure, and that obtained from revelation, con- 
firming each other in this striking manner, the child will 
be prepared to admit the duty of self-control ; he will 
understand how he may exert it, and that it is his highest 
interest to exercise it. 

The duty of self-culture is an inference from the 
knowledge of the powers with which man is endowed, 
and the consideration that these are the gift of God, and 
that it is his will that they should be cultivated and im- 
proved to the utmost. The child should be taught that 
he has a great variety of faculties, each of which has 
some object in the external world of things, or in their 
Author, towards which it is naturally directed ; that all 
are improved, almost indefinitely, by exercise, and that 
happiness is made by the Creator to consist in the ex- 
ercise of the faculties upon their appropriate objects. 
What kind of information is likely to be more practically 
useful than this, not in procuring wealth, but in securing 
that on account of which wealth has its only value, — 
happiness ? We should convince a child that he has 
within his own nature, at his own control, and almost in- 
dependent of external circumstances, many sources of 
happiness which will certainly yield it, if allowed to flow 
in their natural, appointed channels. We should show 
him that the objects of his faculties are in the things 



28 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

about him, in his fellow-creatures, in the Creator himself ; 
and that he will miss a great happiness for every one of 
these faculties which he neglects to cultivate ; that, if he 
neglects them all, he will have, instead of exhaustless 
sources of enjoyment, bringing him good from every 
quarter, only a deep sense of unsatisfied desires, of vague, 
useless longings, which at last will make life itself seem 
to be one long, sad scene of bitter disappointment. 
What knowledge, which we can communicate, will be 
more likely to lead him to become a useful man, and a 
good citizen, than a conviction that one of his highest 
faculties has the happiness of his fellow-creatures for its 
object, and that if he prepares himself to hve, and does 
live, a life of active benevolence, he will derive from it 
constant and elevated pleasure, which he forfeits and 
loses by a life of selfishness ? What more likely to lead 
him to strive after perfection, than to show him, what he 
will soon feel in his own consciousness to be true, that 
one of the noblest of his faculties was given him to lead 
him to glorious conceptions of the beautiful, the excellent, 
the pure, the perfect, and to enable him to obey, and to 
find delight in obeying, the divine command, "Be ye 
perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect " ? Or 
what kind of instruction is better adapted to make him 
hold it a reasonable service to reverence and worship the 
Infinite Being, than to know that that Being has placed 
first and highest in his child's nature the faculty which 
aspires to worship, as its happiest and worthiest office ? 
By what course will you so surely divest the youthful 
mind of the fatal error, which threatens to blast all that is 
healthy, and to poison all that is pure, in society, that the 
possession of wealth and power is happiness, and their ac- 



SELF-EXAMINATION. 29 

quisition a lofty end, as by showing that happiness consists 
only in the use of the faculties, according to their nature, 
upon the objects for which they were bestowed ? 

It would be easy to enlarge upon this part of my sub- 
ject, and it is an eminently practical one. But the rapid 
sketch I am taking forbids my dwelling upon any one 
point, and I have already, perhaps, dwelt upon this too 
long ; but it is impossible to give undue prominence to 
the great and comprehensive duty of so improving and 
elevating our whole nature, as to render it worthy to be 
consecrated to the service of God and man. 

Growing out of this duty is the habit of self-examina- 
tion, which should be enjoined upon a child. He may 
easily be taught to ask himself, '^ Have I done what I 
ought ,'^" and the habit of comparing himself with him- 
self, of asking, "Have I done better .'* Have I made 
progress ? Have I faithfully used my faculties ? Have I 
availed myself, as I ought, of the opportunities which 
have been presented to me ?" — This habit may be sub- 
stituted for the always questionable and often pernicious 
habit of comparing himself with others. 

This leads me to consider some of those practices 
which often prevail in school, which I regard as foreign 
from the cultivation of the moral sense, and sometimes 
even hostile to it ; hostile, because they tend to give ac- 
tivity to those lower propensities which it Is the office of 
the conscience to subdue and keep in subjection. One 
of them I have just alluded to. It is the practice of 
stimulating children to exertion, by mating them against 
each other, by exciting the spirit of rivalry. It Is, per- 
haps, possible for this spirit to exist. In a generous soul, 
unconnected with Its natural allies, jealousy, envy, and 
2* 



20 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

hatred. It is, doubtless, easy for one who has without 
difficuhy surpassed all his rivals, to look down upon them 
with kindness and compassion. But such are not the 
usual feelings of those who have been outstripped. Gen- 
erous rivalry is the exception. It is idle and unphilo- 
sophical to say, such is human nature, and we must take 
it as we find it. We must not take it, at least we must 
not leave it, as we find it. The very object of education 
is to improve the character of the individual ; and this it 
must do by fostering the good and repressing the bad 
tendencies. Whoever will carefully observe the opera- 
tion of the spu-it of rivalry, will find that it is usually ac- 
companied by a desire to pull down the rival, to detract 
from his merits, to depreciate his virtues. There are 
few who hear with pleasure the praises of a rival, and still 
fewer who cordially rejoice in his success. I would, 
therefore, discourage the spirit of rivalry, because of its 
tendency to excite the contentious and malignant pas- 
sions, which, it seems to me, the whole force of my in- 
fluence should be directed to repress. 

Another practice, formerly not uncommon, seems to 
be founded on a mistaken view of the human character. 
I mean the attempt to subdue a child of an irritable and 
violent temperament by violence, by the rod, by brute 
force. If violence is to be used in school in any case, it 
is not in this. The remedy exasperates the disease. 
One who had an infinite insight into the human heart, has 
told us to overcome evil with good. And is savage 
severity, is cruelty, are blows the good wherewith you 
would overcome the evil of a passionate temper, in a 
spoilt or perverse child ? Do gentleness, mildness, for- 
bearance grow up under such influences as these ? If 



VIOLENCE. 31 

your object Is to strike terror, to wreak vengeance, or to 
produce a seeming submission, these are doubtless very 
suitable means. But the fruit of severity is obduracy, — 
of cruelty, hatred, — of blows, resistance, or duplicity and 
cringing servility, — the characteristics of a slave. 

Let me not be misunderstood. I would not take the 
rod out of the teacher's hands. It may be absolutely 
necessary to enforce authority, and authority must be en- 
forced. But I would remind the teacher that the only 
sure foundation for authority is justice ; the only thing 
absolutely irresistible is kindness ; 

'< And earthly power does then show likest God's, 
When mercy seasons justice." 

In our prisons and asylums for the insane, in the man- 
agement of those who have degraded themselves below 
humanity, by the commission of crimes against God and 
society, and of those who have been considered as placed 
beyond its pale by the visitation of heaven, the holy 
power of kindness Is understood and acted upon. In 
our schools, among the hopes of tender mothers, over 
beings with all the attributes of man, and preparing for 
immortality, shall the Iron reign of terror still exist ? A 
rebellion of the poor convict, whose hand Is raised against 
every man, because he Imagines that the hand of his fellow- 
man Is against him, is quieted by the force of love and 
mercy. Shall the noble boy, who, from the very exu- 
berance of happy youthful feeling, rebels, without mean- 
ing it, or knowing what he does, against, perhaps, the 
silly edict of some petty tyrant, be flogged into submis- 
sion ? Is this a course suited to prepare him for volun- 
tary and cheerful submission to the laws of the land ? 

Another point in regard to which a questionable prac- 



32 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

tice often prevails, is the setting boys to be spies on 
each other. This tempts them to concealment, partial- 
ity, and injustice, — sins in comparison with which there 
is no offence against school regulations that can be com- 
mitted, which is not absolutely insignificant. Better 
should whispering, idleness, and practical jokes, go un- 
punished and undetected, than that a boy should be led 
to report unfairly, or not to report, what he has seen, or 
to report what he has not seen. Virtue is strengthened 
by resisting temptation ; but it is destroyed by yielding. 
If we create the temptation, therefore, we should be sure 
that the virtue is strong enough to resist it.* 

In regard to the lower animal propensities, the only safe 
principle is, that nothing should be allowed which would 
have a tendency, directly or indirectly, to excite them. 
In many places there prevails an alarming and criminal in- 
difference upon this point. It is one towards which the 
attention of the teacher should be carefully directed. 
No sound should be suffered from the lips ; no word, or 
figure, or mark, should be allowed to reach the eyes, — 
to deface the walls of house or outhouse, — which could 
give offence to the most sensitive dehcacy. This is the 
teacher's business. He must not be indifferent to it. 
He has no right to neglect it. He cannot transfer it to 
another. He, and he only, is responsible. It is Impos- 
sible to be over-scrupulous in this matter. And the 

* Akin to this practice is that still more shameful one of allowing 
boys to inform of each other. A teacher must be sadly deficient in 
all the generous qualities, who is capable of endeavoring thus to get 
information against his pupils; and what contempt must every noble- 
spirited boy feel for the poor wretch who is capable of descending to 
such meanness. 



THE teacher's INDIRECT INFLUENCE. 33 

committee should see that the teacher does his duty ; 
otherwise, all his lessons in duty are of no avail, and the 
school, instead of being a source of purity, delicacy, and 
refinement, becomes a fountain of corruption, throwing 
out poisonous waters, and rendering the moral atmosphere 
more pestiferous than that fabled fountain of old, over 
which no creature of heaven could fly and escape death. 

Another way in which morahty is to be taught is, by 
example and influence. And this is the most effectual, 
and indeed, the only effectual teaching. It is in vain 
that you will con the moral lesson, in vain will you 
preach homilies upon virtue and goodness ; — unless the 
heart speaks, the words are uttered in vain. The first 
care of the teacher, then, is with his own character, his 
own heart, his own life. What he is teaches. Let him 
not think to flatter himself, and cajole others, by saying 
he might teach morals if he would. He must, he will, 
he does teach, whether he will or not. If he is really 
interested in the subject, if his moral sentiments are in a 
state of healthy activity, his whole deportment will de- 
clare it ; not only his words, but the tone in which he 
utters them, his eye, his features, his step, every thing 
will speak the deep feelings which pervade his inmost 
breast. He will earnestly seek for modes to bring his 
principles to act upon his pupils, and he will find them. 

If he be immoral, his immorality will teach. In spite 
of himself, it will teach. The profane word, the proud 
look, the impatient movement, the harsh expression, the 
violent tone, the indecent gesture,— each will teach its 
own bad lesson. The foul breath of the drunkard teaches 
no less really than his foul language. 

If he be of a character which the Great Teacher de- 



34 MR. Emerson's lecture. 

clares to be farther from the kingdom of heaven than 
either, if he be indifferent, — if he care for none of these 
things, — his very lukewarmness teaches. To say by 
one's actions that the great law of justice is of no conse- 
quence, that the love of our neighbor is of no conse- 
quence, that the reverence and worship of the Infinite 
Father are of no consequence, — this is to teach selfish- 
ness, injustice, impiety. 

If he be, what is infinitely worse than either, that basest 
and most loathsome of all creatures, that object at once 
of the abhorrence of God and the detestation of good men, 
a hypocrite, — if he would pass with men as a teacher of 
righteousness,— he still teaches,— the worst lesson that can 
be taught. He clothes these angels. Charity, Truth, Ven- 
eration, in the habiliments of goblins damned, and then 
makes thera object? of disgust to the poor children who 
are under his influence. He does more. He fills the 
pure and open heart of childhood with suspicion and dis- 
trust. He tempts those who receive his instructions to 
look ever afterwards upon all the ministers of goodness ; 
the Samaritan, upon his errand of mercy ; the simple, 
just man, who denies himself that he may pay the last 
penny to his creditor ; the sincere man of God, whose 
feelings rise in habitual reverence and thankfulness to- 
wards Heaven ; — to look upon all these as self-seekers, 
as Interested, as deceivers of themselves and others ; to 
say all in one word, — as hypocrites. 

In conclusion, let me be allowed to say to my brother 
and sister teachers. If you would teach the great truths of 
morality effectually, you must teach with authority, — 
with the authority of an elevated character, of earnest de- 
sires and strenuous efforts to do your duty, — of a mind 



TEACH WITH AUTHORITY. 35 

Stored with rich and various knowledge, with the spoils 
of time, the observations of men, the fruits of meditation ; 
with the authority of a spirit chastened, exalted, and puri- 
fied by the teachings of the Saviour of mankind. If you 
feel that reverence for God and his laws, which you 
would teach, show the sincerity of your feeling by gain- 
ing a knowledge of his glorious and magnificent works. 
If you would ''justify the ways of God to man," — learn 
what are the great laws of his creation, by studying your 
own structure, the laws of the immortal mind he has given 
you, and by studying the history of mankind. If you would 
show the value of that self-culture, which you would en- 
join upon your pupils, repress whatever is mean and 
earthly in your own character, and cherish and elevate 
what is pure and spiritual ; giving to every noble faculty 
of mind and of soul all the activity and energy of which it 
is capable, and showing yourselves as models of the just 
and philosophic spirit, and of the serene and cheerful de- 
votion to labor and duty, — which become a servant of 
God, consecrated to the highest purposes of his exist- 
ence. 




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